My daughter has always had curly, sometimes frizzy + unmanageable hair. A lot of people tend to try ‘fix’ that by using straight irons, perms and other damaging methods. We have fought with many, many products and routine after routine over the years. A few months ago, I was introduced to the curly girl method. This has been a huge game changer for us!

First, the curly girl (CG) method is a routine in which you go SHAMPOO FREE to give your curls some ultra moisture. Instead of shampooing you cowash (wash your scalp with conditioner) and you condition and style your hair with silicone free and sulfate free products. While there are many products that are available for use, I will be sharing exactly what we have learned works for my daughters hair.

THE DO NOTS:

No towels. Microfiber or cotton t-shirts are best to scrunch, not rub or scrub, excess water out of hair.

No heat like straight irons or curling wands. (Hair dryers are OK with a diffuser.

No hair brushes. Only use a wide tooth comb and/or fingers to detangle your curls while wet.

No shampoos. Except for a silicone, sulfate free shampoo for your last poo wash to help rid of the products that have been damaging.

No conditioners with silicones or sulfates. If any of the ingredients in a conditioner include a -cone or -ate at the end of the word(s), it’s not CG Friendly.

THE PRODUCTS WE USE:

I am listing the products we use. I wanted to share these with you all as it does not have to be expensive to follow this routine. Conditioner + gel can be whatever brand you choose as long as it is silicone + sulfate free.

Spa Haus -argon oil & cocoa butter conditioner and a wide toothed comb, both purchased at Dollar Tree. The conditioner can also be purchased at Wal-mart and Big Lots. It also comes in tea tree mint which we have used with the same results (and helps with any itching that may occur in the first week or so when you stop using shampoos).

I emptied out a bottle of children’s detangler spray. I poured a bit of the conditioner into it and topped off with warm water. Shake well before each use. We use this to refresh every morning and to detangle after co-wash days.

LA Looks gel. Any sulfate or silicone free will work.

A silk shower cap that I purchased from Dollar Tree. I cut the plastic inside liner out. The cap is to sleep in to keep hair from frizzing due to friction from pillows + to continue drying without get pillow wet. It also allows ‘scrunching’ of the curls to enhance them. An alternative is using a buff, scarf, cotton tshirt or a silk pillow case.

GET STARTED:

Wash your hair with a sulfate + silicone free shampoo. Rinse well. You only need to do this step to get started. This is the last shampooing you will need to start your Curly Girl journey.

THE ROUTINE:

Co-wash: Wash with the conditioner of your choice as long as it’s sulfate + silicone free, just as you would shampoo. Rinse. Then add more conditioner to your hair like you normally would…but this time leave it in, don’t rinse!

When you get out of the bath/shower, squeeze/scrunch the excess water from your hair with a cotton tshirt or microfiber towel. Don’t use a regular towel or scrub your head as it will create frizz.Use your fingers or a widetooth comb to detangle hair from the bottom working your way up. Remember, no more brushes!

Add gel by using ‘praying hands’ to smooth it onto sections of your hair at a time. Do not scrunch it in. Be gentle.

You can use a hair dryer with a diffuser if you wish. For my daughter, we wash her hair before bed + plop (put her hair into her silk cap by her flipping her head upside down + inserting all the hair). Plopping helps to dry + keep friction between hair + pillow causing unwanted frizz.

In the morning, you just need to refresh. Remove cap. Spray hair with the conditioner/water mixture. Finger (or my daughter shakes her head up + down for a moment) + scrunch out the crunch of the gel.

Her wake up hair after removing the cap.

This is her hair, after refreshing, in 5 mins or less!

For my daughter, she bathes regularly but only co-washes once every 3-5 days depending on whether it has gotten tangled due to outdoor activities, swimming or sweating, etc.

At night before bed, we spray her hair + put it in the silk cap.
We do this daily: refreshing in the AM and plopping at night. Takes about 10 mins total daily. Co-wash days may take us 20-30 mins total from washing, detangle + plopping.

If her hair seems oily, I use less conditioner…if too dry or still hard to detangle I use more. All hair types needs more or less moisture than others. It’s trial + error until you find out how much conditioner your hair needs.

This is her Day 2 hair (two days after a co-wash).

And Day 4 hair. (Four days after her last co-wash.) Next day we chose to co-wash due to frizzies after being in the car + hair rubbing the back of the seats.

Hope this helps you understand the basics of the Curly Girl Method. If you give this a try, we’d love to see how it works for you!

When my 9 year old daughter was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity a year ago, we had no clue how much her diet was going to change. It was obvious breads, cereals + pastas had to go or be replaced with a gluten-free alternative. So many other bagged, canned + boxed items, condiments and even some shredded cheeses had gluten as well.

We live in a small country area and have very few options locally to buy gluten free alternatives. We have a Wal-Mart here and 20 minutes away is an Aldi’s. We have found that Aldi’s has a much wider selection so we make the drive once a week for at least gluten-free items, diary + produce.

We are fans of their Live G-Free line of pastas, bread, crackers, baking mixes and breakfast/snack bars. They even have a frozen selection of pizzas, pizza pockets, ham + cheese pockets and chicken nuggets. They have other brands of gluten-free foods that are of equal quality too. I just remember Live G-Free off hand. We also pick up our produce here as they always have better quality in the area and a larger selection.

As a parent, quick options are always great to have on hand. Since we are hitting the one year mark of my daughter going gluten-free, we have began experimenting with our own recipes lately. Our favorite gluten-free find so far has been ZOODLES! We purchased a Veggetti and began making our own zucchini noodles. The veggetti is easy enough that my daughter uses it herself with supervision. It’s quick to make noodles and easy to clean.

We tried our first batch in a skillet with olive oil, garlic powder + pepper. Heated on medium high until desired. You can heat until just warm or until it’s practically mush. We like a slight crisp but tender enough it feels like a spaghetti noodle. We also made cloud bread but working on perfecting the recipe.

We had some frozen gluten free pre-cooked chicken strips. And we needed a quick option for her that night. We made up the zoodles then tossed them in some chicken broth with the chicken strips. Soup. 🙂

Then….spaghetti! Start with zoodles. Heat in skillet with real butter (or an oil would work too) until desired. Season with garlic powder, onion powder + Italian seasoning. We topped with a basic red sauce (check that it’s gluten-free!), italian sausage, onions, bell peppers and black olives. TIP: Cut/dice veggies and freeze in small portions to save time in the future for spaghetti or pizza toppings.

So far so good on using zucchini! It’s my new favorite vegetable (I’m not even the one on the GF diet!) and it is able to be used so many ways quickly.

Let us hear what your favorite gluten-free find has been so far on your journey?

Recently, I installed yarn twists extensions in my daughter’s hair. She is a very active 8 year old and has a hard time brushing her own long curly hair. I figured this would give me a break from all the de-tangling that is required for her hair during a very busy few weeks. While it was time consuming to install them, it is simple to do. She had these in for 3 weeks. A few hours over an evening or two, saved me many, many hours over those weeks of struggle and tears from her to get the tangles out. We will definitely do these again in the near future.

This was only my second time doing these yarn twist extensions, ever! I did them a few years ago for the first time. Neither her, nor I were as patient to sit for the long to do them more often back then. I just randomly came across the original how to video that I learned from and decided to give it a try again. I posted photos on my personal Facebook page and the compliments were amazing! I figured I would share the photos here, some tips and the video for everyone that was interested in them as well.

Starting the Process…

Completed!

WHY CHOOSE YARN EXTENSIONS?

My daughter likes dreads and braids. I personally have natural dreads, that I will post about another time, and they are low maintenance. No brushing tangles, no fighting frizz and no spending an hour or more to prep for each day. I am all for children making decisions on their own hairstyles. If my daughter wanted to make the long term choice of dreads, I’d be all for it. But she’s not up for it. This hairstyle has the same low maintenance as my dreads but it’s not long term. She loves color. What little girl doesn’t? With this hairstyle, you can choose yarn as natural to the hair color you are working with or as colorful as you want.

This is actually a protective hairstyle for those that have biracial, African American hair, or even curly hair but can be done with any hair type. My daughter is biracial so I use a little bit of coconut oil when putting these in so it is a great way to moisturize/repair her hair, keeps it from breaking and can help the curls regain their definition.

Styles with Yarn Twists

FAQ AND TIPS ABOUT YARN TWIST EXTENSIONS

• Use acrylic yarn, not wool as wool will dread into the hair. Acrylic yarn can be found at your local dollar stores, chain stores (Wal-Mart, Target, Members, etc) and is cheap. You will have lots left over for other projects or future hair styles!

• These can be the same length of regular hair or extended for a longer look.

• They can be left in up to 4 weeks (usually needs to be redone by that time due to frizziness at the scalp + new hair growth).

• Can be washed and conditioned as usual. And can be a great hairstyle to use during a time of changing from shampoos to no poo (hair goes through a wild ride sometimes with that).

• Can be styled in many ways: left down, ponytail, pig tails, bun, other up-dos or partial up-dos.

• To remove, just cut the yarn (making sure not to cut hair) and untwist. My daughter wears her hair twisted once the yarn is removed for a few days before washing again to go back to her normal curls.

THE HOW TO INSTALL YARN EXTENSIONS

I have not recorded a video how-to on yarn twists because there are many, many of them available on YouTube for viewing already. Basically, I measure the yarn (LENGTH OF HAIR x 2) and cut lots of strands of it. Then I section the hair into ‘brick pattern’s as you go. Each ‘block’ in the brick pattern will be what I attach the yarn to. I personally use two strands of yarn for each twist. I split the block into two strands of hair, then find the center of my yarn and place it against the scalp. So there are two strands of hair and two strands of yarn. I start twisting a strand of yarn with a strand of hair then cross over and continue twisting. At the end of the hair, I continue for about an inch past the hair then knot it. You can extend pas the hair as long as you want.

This is the video by Chocolate Hair/Vanilla Care that I learned to do this hairstyle. Check out their blog as they have many protective hairstyles to learn about as well!

https://youtu.be/WbEP7CqWhio

If you try yarn twist extensions out, please feel free to let me know how they turn out. And if you have any further questions at all about how this is done, ask in the comments + I’ll answer to the best of my ability!

Schoola rocks! After my first completely free order, I received two packages that I paid less than $3 total for. The rest was paid by referral credits that I earned. I earned these credits, to purchase clothing from the website, by sharing my referral link with friends + family through email, text and on my social media accounts.

These are screenshots of the two orders:

The items once received:

I am very pleased with the quality of the gently used clothing. Shipping has taken about 7-9 days for the free shipping options that they provide. Other shipping options are available with cost if you need them quicker.

My daughter is 8 yrs old + a size 14; there was a huge selection of clothing for her. My son is 10 + a size 20 or adult smalls now. The selection for him was somewhat limited, however that was expected as boys seem to be more rough on clothes. They even send a postage paid bag to fill up with gently used outgrown clothes to donate to them, that I took advantage of.

I highly recommend Schoola! I will be a repeat customer (actually already am) and have had many family + friends already make multiple orders with them as well.

Read about my first order with step by step instructions for you to get up to $60 in free clothes too, here:

Back in June, I came across a website, called Schoola, when searching for ‘back-to-homeschool’ or Fall/Winter clothing for my children. I was able to order 13 items for my daughter from them, free! It was a great start to getting everything that she needed.

Hurry over to get this deal on Amazon for 50% off the sale price, plus get free shipping with Amazon Prime!

The description says, “Waterproof lights can withstand all kinds of weather, including heavy rain and snow, perfect for indoor and outside decorations. Let the solar panel face direct sunlight during the day + the lights will shine for 8 hours at night. Special 30 waterdrop shaped leds bring you a fresh and pleasant atmosphere.”

These 21 foot, 30 led warm white string lights have an Amazon rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, with over 100 customer reviews. And they’re used for many occasions, not just Christmas; you can also use them indoors as well. There are eight modes including steady on, flashing, twinkling, slow fade, etc. I could easily see these being used for the outdoor get togethers in the warmer months.

Hurry over to get this deal on Amazon for 50% off the sale price, plus get free shipping with Amazon Prime!

The description says, “Waterproof lights can withstand all kinds of weather, including heavy rain and snow, perfect for indoor and outside decorations. Let the solar panel face direct sunlight during the day + the lights will shine for 8 hours at night. Special 30 crystal ball leds bring you a fresh and pleasant atmosphere.”

These 21 foot, 30 led warm white string lights have an Amazon rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, with over 100 customer reviews. And they’re used for many occasions, not just Christmas; you can also use them indoors as well. There are eight modes including steady on, flashing, twinkling, slow fade, etc. I could easily see these being used for the outdoor get togethers in the warmer months.

Hurry over to get this deal on Amazon for 50% off the sale price, plus get free shipping with Amazon Prime!

The description says, “Waterproof Solar Led String Lights – 72ft 200 led (including 6.5ft lead circuit) can withstand all kinds of weather, including heavy rain and snow, perfect for indoor and outside decorations. Let the solar panel face direct sunlight during the day + the lights will shine for 8 hours at night.”

These white string lights have an Amazon rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, with over 100 customer reviews. And they’re used for many occasions, not just Christmas; you can also use them indoors as well. There are eight modes including steady on, flashing, twinkling, slow fade, etc. I could easily see these being used for the outdoor get togethers in the warmer months.

Hurry over to get this deal on Amazon for 50% off the sale price, plus get free shipping with Amazon Prime!

The description says, “Waterproof Solar Led String Lights – 72ft 200 led (including 6.5ft lead circuit) can withstand all kinds of weather, including heavy rain and snow, perfect for indoor and outside decorations. Let the solar panel face direct sunlight during the day + the lights will shine for 8 hours at night.”

These warm white (yellow) string lights have an Amazon rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, with 75 customer reviews. And they’re used for many occasions, not just Christmas; you can also use them indoors as well. There are eight modes including steady on, flashing, twinkling, slow fade, etc. I could easily see these being used for the outdoor get togethers in the warmer months.

I cannot say how disappointed I am in this online faxing service. I originally signed up for eFax.com as an eFax Free member. That included receiving up to 10 faxes in each 30 day period. I have never received an email from them once since I began using them.

My Billing:
Very unexpectedly, I found that I was being charged for 3 months – when I was a “eFax Free member”. Forty plus dollars missing from my account was alarming to me today!

My Usage:
I received one fax on the very day I signed up for my account. Not one fax received nor sent since that day. I never even signed into my account again until today when I became aware they charged my card without permission.

My Profile:
I had signed up for the eFax Free account (receive 10 or less faxes a month for free). I somehow ended up on the eFax Plus account without my knowledge!

I am NOT the only person with this issue. Many have had the same problem happen. Others have signed up for the Pro or Plus accounts with 30 days free and when trying to cancel their subscription, they were refused and ended up being charged. Many have had viruses + malware issues using their services due to spam. They all seemed to have had the same poor customer service communication issues as I did, with no emails (upon sign up, nor when billed or service canceled) or told they don’t cancel unless over the phone.

My personal experience trying to cancel my account and ask for a refund was terrible. Their customer service support line (via phone) is ran by non-American citizens whom either I could not understand or they didn’t understand me. It took 3 transfers of people before I got frustrated and told them to transfer me to a United States customer service rep. I was put on hold for over 15 mins and finally someone who could speak + understand English was on the line for me to speak with. They said they would submit a request to refund only $16.95 (one month of service). They said they were unable to do anything further.

I then called my card’s customer service line and they submitted for an investigation immediately. Hopefully it’ll be returned in the near future. But in the meantime, and even if it’s not returned, I will make sure to do what I can to get the word out about eFaxes poor services and customer communication.

Rating:Disclaimer: This service review is based on my own personal experience and is my 100% honest opinion.